


Once More, This Time, with Feeling

by 20Zvorak17



Category: The OC (TV)
Genre: AU, But shenanigans for sure, F/M, Gen, Kinda Cracky, Not too much, Time Travel, personal headcanons included
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:48:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25176418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/20Zvorak17/pseuds/20Zvorak17
Summary: When Ryan and Marissa get run off the road by Volchok and are both found dead at the scene, life in Newport falls apart. Luckily, after the earthquake kills Seth and Sandy, the two are sent back in time by two different deities--each with the instruction to 'fix it'.  With help from Ryan and Kirsten, respectively, they'll certainly do their best to stop the series of events that led to catastrophe.
Relationships: Ryan Atwood/Marissa Cooper, Sandy Cohen/Kirsten Cohen, Seth Cohen/Summer Roberts
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. The Pilot...Once More

Seth was confused and surprised when he awoke, as the last thing he remembered had been getting crushed by the tree that totaled the pool house. Seth had been there, as he often was, trying to feel close to Ryan after his death. His mom had always been able to feel that at Ryan's grave site, but all Seth could feel was the despair, stagnation, and death. He looked around and regardless of the all white motif he was surrounded by, Seth didn't think he was in a hospital room. 

"Hello? Is...is someone there?"

"Ah, young Seth Cohen, is it?" An old woman--who Seth privately thought resembled an older Oprah Winfrey-said from his side, though Seth was certain she hadn't been standing there two seconds ago. "You should've been with Summer, safe. Your children are supposed to solve global warming. Your niece is meant to cure cancer."

"Uh, really? Well, uh, sorry for dying in a freak accident." He replied with gentle sarcasm. 

She muttered to herself. "I pushed the snark button too many times with this one, didn't I?"

There was a beat of silence, and for all Seth's faults, he wasn't unintelligent. "You're God." He realized.

"Indeed. And I need your help."

_Don't faint, don't faint, don't faint,_ "You sure you need my help? Like the help of me, Seth Cohen, veritable nobody?"

"You're the only one of my children that _can_ help me," she assured him, "because everything went off track when Ryan Atwood died. You're going to stop it."

"A chance to save my brother, and maybe Summer's best friend in the process? They say God is good, and they are so right, dude. I mean, ma'am. I mean..."

She touched his cheek gently, cutting him off, and it should've felt like power, or agony, or have been completely overwhelming, but actually it felt exactly like when his mother hugged him, or his dad put an arm across his shoulders, or Ryan clapped him on the back. In the next second, she was gone and he woke up in his bedroom, holding Captain Oats. A glance at the calendar confirmed it was the day his whole life would change.

* * *

Sandy's first coherent thought was that Kirsten had been next to him in the car, but he couldn't see her now, and he needed to find her. "Kirsten," he called, "where are you?"

"Schlum," a voice said and, once he registered the word, Sandy tried to switch gears to Yiddish, though he hadn't spoken it, apart from holidays, since childhood, when he had visited often with his orthodox neighbors.

The man was bearded and maybe middle-eastern, and looked every bit how he knows a historically accurate Jesus would appear, if such a person had existed at all. Being Jewish, he didn't think so, but it hadn't stopped him from formulating an image of God that favored such an appearance.

"Your wife is fine," the man continued still in Yiddish. "Yet, things are not as they should be. Not at all."

"How do you mean?"

"Your son should not have died in the car wreck, and in doing so, he started a domino effect that will eventually lead to the inhabitability of Earth and the death of humanity. I need you to stop it."

"You mean that Ryan's untimely death condemned the whole world? Is that a real thing that really happens?"

"Not if you manage to fix it," the man smiled, and Sandy was filled with warmth. 

When his alarm went off, he couldn't remember the man's face, but he was on a mission now. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Honey," Sandy says that morning, "This is going to sound insane." He tells her everything, or enough of it that she understands the situation. Except the accident, he doesn't mention the really bad things--like Trey, like her spiral into alcoholism--because he intends to change them. But he tells her about the model home and juvie and casino night and how Ryan had become irreversibly theirs. "And there's a lot more, but that's enough to be getting on with for now."

He doesn't want to do this alone when he could have her on his side.

She kisses him, and reminds him yet again of why he loves her so much. "Bring our son home." 

"I'm really, really glad you believe me." He tells her.

"You've never lied to me before," she answers, "and this would really be some place to start."

The relief is immeasurable. If he doesn't have to fight Kirsten on this as he had the first time, it should make everything easier. They're better as a team, so he's learned the hard way. He spends all day waiting impatiently for his second son to come into his life, and when he gets assigned the case he's nearly jubilant with relief.

He tries to mimic their first interaction as closely as possible. He's not sure what it is he said that convinced Ryan to call him the last go through and he cannot risk changing it. 

What was it he'd said after Ryan had done his bit about Social Security? 

"But you're so smart. You've gotta have a dream." As soon as he says it, he knows it's wrong. It's not what he'd said that first time. Nevertheless, Ryan answers 'correctly'. He remembers being saddened by the perspective when they'd met before. Now when he hears to infamous words, he's just relieved. He hands over his card, complete with the numbers, and his stomach is in a vice the whole afternoon. He doesn't quite recall what time Ryan had rung him all those years ago, what time he'll be ringing him today, and every time his phone rings his heart jumps into his throat. And then, finally, twenty minutes later than the original timeline, just when he's beginning to panic, he gets the call.

"Mr. Cohen? It's Ryan Atwood. I, uh, I need a place to crash." 


End file.
